it may be in morals as it is in optics, the eye and the object may come too close to each other, to answer the end of vision. There are certain faults which press too near our self-love to be even perceptible to us. Hannah More More Quotes by Hannah More More Quotes From Hannah More Luxury and dissipation, soft and gentle as their approaches are, and silently as they throw their silken chains about the heart, enslave it more than the most active and turbulent vices Hannah More luxury vices heart Glory darts her soul-pervading ray on thrones and cottages, regardless still of all the artificial nice distinctions vain human customs make. Hannah More rays nice soul After all that corrupt poets, and more corrupt philosophers, have told us of the blandishments of pleasure, and of its tendency to soften the temper and humanize the affections, it is certain, that nothing hardens the heart like excessive and unbounded luxury; and he who refuses the fewest gratifications to his own voluptuousness, will generally be found the least susceptible of tenderness for the wants of others. Hannah More luxury temptation heart Proportion and propriety are among the best secrets of domestic wisdom; and there is no surer test of integrity than a well-proportioned expenditure. Hannah More tests secret integrity Affliction is the school in which great virtues are acquired, in which great characters are formed. Hannah More affliction character school Since trifles make the sum of human things, And half our misery from our foibles springs; Since life's best joys consist in peace and ease, And though but few can serve, yet all may please; On, let th' ungentle spirit learn from hence, A small unkindness is a great offence. Hannah More ease spring joy The education of the present race of females is not very favorable to domestic happiness. For my own part, I call education, not that which smothers a woman with accomplishments, but that which tends to consolidate a firm and regular system of character; that which tends to form a friend, a companion, and a wife. Hannah More race education character It is an excellent sign, that after the cares and labors of the day, you can return to your pious exercises and meditations with undiminished attention. Hannah More return meditation exercise O jealousy, Thou ugliest fiend of hell! thy deadly venom Preys on my vitals, turns the healthful hue Of my flesh check to haggard sallowness, And drinks my spirit up! Hannah More jealous hue flesh Subduing and subdued, the petty strife, Which clouds the colour of domestic life; The sober comfort, all the peace which springs From the large aggregate of little things; On these small cares of daughter, wife or friend, The almost sacred joys of home depend. Hannah More women daughter spring The secret heart is fair devotion's temple; there the saint, even on that living altar, lights the flame of purest sacrifice, which burns unseen, not unaccepted. Hannah More sacrifice light heart Nothing raises the price of a blessing like its removal; whereas it was its continuance which should have taught us its value. There are three requisitions to the proper enjoyment of earthly blessings,--a thankful reflection on the goodness of the Giver, a deep sense of our unworthiness, a recollection of the uncertainty of long possessing them. The first would make us grateful; the second, humble; and the third, moderate. Hannah More grateful blessing humble A slowness to applaud betrays a cold temper or an envious spirit. Hannah More envy cold spirit Perish discretion, when it interferes With duty! Hannah More discretion interfere duty Did not God Sometimes withhold in mercy what we ask, We should be ruined at our own request. Hannah More mercy prayer sometimes Imagination frames events unknown, In wild, fantastic shapes of hideous ruin, And what it fears creates. Hannah More events shapes imagination No adulation; 'tis the death of virtue; Who flatters, is of all mankind the lowest Save he who courts the flattery. Hannah More flattery court virtue It is a part of Christianity to convert every natural talent to a religious use. Hannah More natural-talent use religious Genius without religion is only a lamp on the outer gate of a palace; it may serve to cast a gleam of light on those that are without, while the inhabitant sits in darkness. Hannah More light darkness christian Since trifles make the sum of human things, And half our misery from our foibles springs. Hannah More misery half spring
